


Starting Over

by Lil_Lycanthropy



Series: DWCAU (Dog Walking/College AU) [4]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: College, Dog Walking, Eating Disorder, Gen, Gender, Transgender, period mention, uhhh some minor injuries
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-28 04:53:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17176280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lil_Lycanthropy/pseuds/Lil_Lycanthropy
Summary: College is starting up again, which means anxiety, and not just for Virgil.





	Starting Over

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I haven't posted in so long I have no excuses other than I'm a shit human

Change is usually welcome for Roman—after all, who knew what adventures were out there? You couldn’t get anywhere by staying in your comfort zone. He was always one to take the plunge headfirst. For his last year at college, he decided some change was in order.

Breathing in the warm air that would soon make way to the crispness of fall, he walked down the street, hands stuffed into the pockets of a well-worn, yet obviously well-kept leather jacket. He made his way towards a local drugstore, looking for something known only to him. When he found it, he headed to the cash and checked out, humming pleasantly to himself.

As he got home, he walked past where Logan was quietly listening to an audiobook on the couch, likely getting some reading done before going back for some degree in a couple days. Virgil was sitting across from them, eyes closed and headphones blaring. Roman could hear the music from across the room—suspiciously sounding like Fall Out Boy—but decided not to comment.

He gave Logan a small wave with the bag still on his arm, and ended up in the bathroom. Dumping his purchases on the counter, he took his dark brown hair out of his usual man-bun and started the shower.

Roman took off his shirt and admired the tattoo he had gotten a few days earlier on his forearm. It was still covered with some cling-film, because you could never be too careful, but he could still make out the words.

_When you wish upon a star…_

* * *

An hour and a half later, Roman emerged from the bathroom, having pampered himself with a mini spa treatment before messing with his hair a bit.

He swaggered into the living room, flipping his hair out of his face.

Patton looked up—he must have arrived home from the clinic while Roman was treating himself—and gasped in delight.

“Kiddo, what did you do with your hair?” he asked in delight, standing up and walking over. He reached up and swatted at Roman’s head, but being half a foot taller and having taken some martial arts, Roman quickly blocked him.

“Ta-dah!” Roman said. “You like it?”

Patton smiled at him. “Yeah. Looks good, Roman.” Then he playfully pounced onto the couch between Logan and Virgil, Logan almost spilling their coffee and Virgil flipping Pat off. “Logan, look! Roman’s finally got the hair to match his fiery personality!”

Indeed, Roman’s hair was now a deep red. It shone in the dim light from the lamp, and he quickly flipped it over and put it in his trademark bun. “Well, that’s enough having my hair in my face. I don’t know how you do it, Black Parade.”

Virgil ducked his head in embarrassment, turning his music back on.

Roman waltzed toward the couch, laying dramatically across the three. His head was on Logan’s lap, who patted it carefully before returning to their audiobook, eyes closed. Virgil made a disgruntled noise as Roman’s feet landed on him.

Roman winced a bit when he felt how thin Virgil’s thighs were. They were a bit better than they were a month and a half ago, but he still had a long way to go before he would be considered healthy.

Either way, Roman was secretly proud of the progress the emo had made. Sure, he was far from perfect with his eating habits, and he still refused to eat in front of the three of them, but his face had filled out a bit, the cheekbones not quite so prominent under the edgy eyeliner.

His thoughts soon turned back to his hair, still a bit damp. It would be wavy when it came out of the bun. Maybe he should put it in a braid?

Nah.

He was content where he was, nice and comfortable, surrounded by people whom he could be himself with.

* * *

Virgil was mightily uncomfortable.

Sitting with The Royal Pain’s feet on his lap was giving him a bad feeling. He was already overwhelmed, with his second year of college starting in two days, and rather than frantically trying to pull everything together (despite knowing he had everything prepared weeks in advance—thanks, anxiety), he and Logan had agreed it would be better to spend the next little while adjusting and taking it easy.

So, he plugged in some tunes to drown out the sounds of the world, glad to escape its mayhem. Then goddamn Roman had strutted in like a peacock. Roman was okay, Virgil guessed. They had gone together to get a tattoo for Roman a few days ago, which went well. It wasn’t Roman’s first, and Virgil had been curious—he maybe wanted a tattoo at some point in the future, but of course anxiety was preventing him from getting one.

Roman always had the habit of stirring things up, and Virgil pretended not to notice his expression as his feet landed on Virgil’s thighs.

The more Virgil thought about his school, the more he worried about his grades and his future and his thighs and his body and and and—

_Breathe, Virgil._

Logan’s voice in his head. He exhaled deeply, gently pushing Roman’s feet off of him. Roman moved back, looking offended for half a second before seeing Virgil’s face, and switching to concerned.

“You good?”

Virgil nodded and shut his eyes, moving to the kitchen. Contact was not working right now.

He rested his head on the table and blared his music again.

After about a minute, he felt a soft thump on the table. Looking up, he noticed one of the fidget cubes he had bought on the table, Logan swiftly exiting back into the living room.

He glared at it for a bit, then tentatively reached out for it. He pushed around the little gears, and before he knew it, he was so distracted with fidgeting with it, he wasn’t even really thinking about college—well, he was, but it didn’t seem so overwhelming at this moment.

Hopefully he could get through this year.

When he was ready, he walked back into the living room, fidget cube and hand in his pocket. He avoided eye contact and curled up on the chair, nervous to talk, but desperately needing to.

“Everything alright, Virgil?” Logan said.

He took a deep breath, started to say something, then stopped himself.

_Don’t get attached._

“I’m fine,” he said.

Logan nodded their head, not looking convinced, but deciding not to pry, either. Virgil moved to the floor where Lil was, petting his soft fur. The golden retriever rolled over on his belly, and Virgil lost himself in the sensation.

_Just make it through the next week and you’ll be fine._

* * *

The next two days dragged on while also taking no time at all, and before Virgil knew it, he was heading to his first class of the day.

Anxiety woke him up that morning at around 5, and so he had stayed up on his laptop, committing his classes to memory (yet still having them on his phone for backup).

Class was boring, and he gave himself a little workout by jiggling his leg the entire time, burning about 115 calories—

_No. Don’t think like that anymore._

He was trying, he really was. But old habits were hard to break.

He read in the library for a little while, then headed to his next and final class of the day (thank god for making your own schedules). It was much like the first one, in the way that it was almost completely uneventful except for one kid dropping their laptop and cursing loud enough that the professor faltered for a second.

When Virgil got home, he slept like a rock, and dreamed of nothing.

* * *

On the first day of classes. Patton woke to a familiar pain in his lower abdomen.

He had just started going on blockers about a week ago, having finally saved up enough for a shot that lasted three months, and the endocrinologist had told him something like this would happen.

_Perfect. Just in time for school._

He cleaned himself up, then got ready for his first day of second year veterinary college.

Patton loved working with the animals, and he would have a chance to do some co-op this year, besides the work he already did at Liz’s clinic. He might actually get to participate, rather than just observe.

The day went by quickly, even though it was a bad pain day from his period and his legs, but soon he was home again, hot pad, ibuprofen, chocolate, and Netflix all ready for him.

He flicked on Shrek, Lil curled up at his aching feet, cane placed near the couch—though he had no intention of moving anytime soon.

Virgil stumbled down the stairs about thirty minutes in, obviously having just woken up from a nap.

He sat on the couch between Patton, not quite touching, but close enough that Patton could tell he was trying to be social, in his own introverted way.

They sat in silence, enjoying the movie in each other’s company.

Eventually, Virgil prodded him. “Hot pad?” he questioned.

“Period.”

“Ah. That’s rough, buddy.”

Patton grinned at the reference, which he didn’t know if Virgil had made on purpose.

“Are you...uncomfortable?” Virgil asked awkwardly.

“From many things, yes.”

Indeed, the pain in his legs that never left were bothering him more than usual, and his period certainly didn’t help, but more than anything…

“I just really want to take my binder off, to be honest,” he chuckled.

Virgil nodded. “Go ahead—I mean, only if you want to.”

“Well, I’m not standing up, so turn around.”

Virgil turned away and covered his eyes, and Patton quickly took off his binder, having had good near seven years of practice.

He gave the okay and Virgil turned back around, settling his gaze on the movie.

Patton gave a sigh of relief, placing the hot pad back on his stomach. Periods sucked, but there were some things that made it more bearable. Still, he couldn’t wait for when the blockers finally kicked in.

It was then that Logan decided to basically kick in the door.

“Lo, what the hell!?” Virgil asked, immediately going into fight-or-flight mode.

“I apologize. Long day. We had a debate about whether the earth is flat—and there are three people in my program that genuinely believe it is.”

“Aren’t you in, like, a space program?”

“Exactly!”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! Feel free to leave a comment telling me to get off my ass. Tumblr is guav-writes


End file.
